Babita, Vinesh fail to impress at World Championship

Las Vegas: It was yet another dismal day for Indian wrestlers at the World Championship as three women grapplers, including Babita Kumari and Vinesh Phogat, and one in Greco-Roman category failed to make a mark.

The 2012 World Championship bronze medallist, Babita (53kg) was the lone Indian who could make it till the quarterfinal round, while others bowed out in the initial stages of the competition in their respective categories.

The two other woman wrestlers in fray on Thursday -- Vinesh and Navjot Kaur -- could not progress beyond the round of 1/16.

Babita got off to a good start, defeating Columbian Aide Maryory Cuero Munoz 17-4, Karima Sanchez Ramis of Spain 9-0 and Nina Hemmer of Germany 13-6 on her way to quarterfinals.

But in her last-eight round bout, Babita went down to Xuechun Zhong of China 2-6 to crash out of the tournament.

There were high hopes from youngster Vinesh, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, but she failed to clear even the first-round hurdle, falling to Kim Hyon-gyong of North Korea 4-8 in the 48kg category.

While Navjot was completely outplayed by Alina Stadnik Makhynia of Ukraine 0-8 in 69kg division.

In 85kg Greco-Roman category, Manoj Kumar lost to Rami Antero Hietaniemi of Finland 0-10 in the 1/16 round.